Everyone loves a good paczki

February 29, 2012

Paczkis, a traditional treat originating from Poland, were offered for sale at Mrs. T’s Bakery Feb. 21 in Bremen in 11 different flavors. Photo by Angel Perkins

BREMEN — Everyone loves to indulge once in awhile and what better excuse than Fat Tuesday to enjoy a paczki … or two.
The donut-like pastry is said to have originated in Poland in the 1600s when the ladies of the houses felt the need to use up all the lard and other taboo ingredients they had to give up for their beliefs so they didn’t go bad. Fat Tuesday (also Mardi Gras to the French or in Brazil, Carnival), the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, is marked as the Catholics’ last big, bad-eating indulgence day before the fasting period of Lent.
Pronounced poonch-key or punch-key, the yeast-raised pastry is one that is popular with Americans no matter what lineage or religion they are — even in Bremen. Mrs. T’s offered the masses 11 different flavors at $2.50 apiece.
Paczkis range in sweet content from 250 to 480 calories each. Most are round and glazed but the Bremen bakery offered unique, squared and sugar-powdered confections, the most popular flavor of which was said to be strawberries with whipped cream.
“We made about 950 of them,” said co-owner Barb Pittman Tuesday afternoon. “About 60 percent of those were for carry out.” Pittman, with Mrs. T, Rhonda Triplet, and other staff members worked five shifts from eight to 14 hours each filling and perfecting the annual treats for the public — some of which were taken as far as South Bend to be consumed — and from 5 to 8 a.m. being the store’s biggest rush of consumers wishing to indulge.
Mrs. T’s Bakery is located at 124 E. Plymouth St. and is open Mondays from 3:30 to 11 a.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday from 3:30 a.m. to noon and Thursday and Friday from 3:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
As well as making plump paczkis, the bakery makes a daily variety of cupcakes, cookies, muffins, donuts, brownies and more, and offers breakfast sandwiches and sausage gravy with biscuits in the mornings for its hungry customers. The bakery also sells cakes, of which Triplet has earned a reputation and received many accolades for. “She (Triplet) went to state (in 4-H competition) two years ago and won in four out of eight divisions,” Pittman said. “She judges for the local fairs. She’s really good at that.”
Mrs. T’s also bakes about 1,200 puzzle-shaped cookies (bagged and pre-sold) to benefit Autism Awareness Month each April as well as occasionally donates goodies to Community Hospital of Bremen and the local fire department. “They give us a lot of business,” Pittman explained. “We sell the rolls (donuts) through the hospital and we sponsor the hospital’s Spring Sensation (event).”
Each holiday the bakery also offers seasonally-designed cookies and candies. Explains Pittman, “We are just a nice little hometown bakery; I think it may be customers like the quaint atmosphere.”
Or, it may be the paczkis, which — an hour before closing Feb. 21— were almost all gone.
To learn more about Mrs. T’s Bakery call 574-546-4559 or email mrs.tsbakery@hotmail.com.